Astros place Hunter Brown on IL with shoulder injury

Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown started his 2026 campaign off hot. However, an unfortunate injury has now put his season on pause.

The Astros have placed Brown on the 15-day injured list due to a right shoulder strain, via Chandler Rome of The Athletic. This is the first time Brown has been on the IL over his entire five-year MLB career, via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com.

The right-hander threw six innings of one-run baseball against the Boston Red Sox on March 31. However, clearly something was bothering him coming out of that start. Brown will now have time to rest while the Astros evaluate their next option. They’re hopeful it won’t require a long-term absence, although a timetable for his return hasn’t yet been revealed.

Before suffering his injury, Brown had made two starts, encompassing 10.2 innings. The right-hander held a 0.84 ERA and a 17/6 K/BB ratio. Brown even earned the Astros’ Opening Day start in 2026, which resulted in 4.2 innings of scoreless baseball against the Los Angeles Angels, and nine strikeouts.

The Astros went out and added names like Tatsuya Imai and Mike Burrows to their roster over the offseason. But to be truly successful, they knew they needed Hunter Brown to continue off of his 2025 breakthrough. That season, he held a 2.43 ERA and a 206/57 K/BB ratio. While early into his campaign, Brown looked on his way to putting together another strong performance.

Houston will hope he won’t be on the shelf too long, and they’ll be seeing Brown striking out more batters in short order. But it’ll all come down to how the starting pitcher’s shoulder heals during his stint on IL.

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